We have a category here on Webvision for historical images of scientists called Who’s That? designed to show portraits of vision scientists in historical context. Where they came from, etc… After discussing some, we thought it would be nice to have some more contemporary imagery as well. Of course if Webvision sticks around for years to come, then the contemporary portraits will tend to conflate with the historical portraits some, but the distinction is worth mentioning from a provenance perspective. And while there is a reasonable expectation of that happening given the Webvision is now over 17 years old and going strong, we’ll deal with that issue when the time comes…

By the way, submission of images of vision scientists are welcome for both categories, Who’s That? and Portraits of Scientists from Webvisions readership. We’d love to see what you send in.

So, onto the first contemporary portrait: This shot of Michael Redmond was made in Berlin, Germany at the 2012 ISER meeting. Michael is the chief of the Laboratory of Retinal Cell and Molecular Biology at the National Eye Institute. His research has historically focused on RPE65, a protein involved in the retinal cycle of Vitamin A. Michael’s lab works with normal retina as well as retinal degenerative diseases in an effort to understand how RPE65 works in mouse models of RPE65 defects. The really interesting aspect of his work with RPE65 has not been the knockout mouse models, but the efforts to modify RPE65 and investigate its role in the visual process with all of the attendant insights into disease that those efforts bring.

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Webvision summarizes recent advances in knowledge and understanding of the visual system through dedicated chapters and evolving discussion to serve as a clearing house for all things related to retina and vision science.